How much is an athlete worth: valuation for founders

La domanda “how much is an athlete worth” today is also a question for those deciding investments, product and team. Here I explore Max Verstappen’s renewal with Red Bull and the record fees for players like Morgan Rogers, Elliot Anderson and Alexander Isak to derive rules that help founders and investors value a human asset. The piece weaves concrete numbers, accounting rules and cases to offer a practical lens on risks and opportunities. Compensation can be used as a competitive lever.

When price is strategy: salaries that act outside the rules

Red Bull renewed Max Verstappen through 2030. Reported figures speak of a base around €92mn per year and up to €115mn with bonuses. If the maximum were realized over four seasons, the total can reach €460mn. Formula 1 has a spending cap, an operational limit set at $215mn for 2026. The cap excludes drivers’ salaries, allowing teams to use compensation as a competitive lever. For a startup this is equivalent to spending off the operating account to secure a strategic resource that influences recruiting, sponsors and visibility.

An investment can operate off the operating account.

The same logic emerges in football with record transfers. Chelsea paid £117m for Morgan Rogers and Manchester City offered up to £116m for Elliot Anderson. Liverpool spent £125m for Alexander Isak last year. These amounts are not just sporting costs, but reflect expectations of value growth, resale potential and commercial impact. Practically, an investor must ask whether they are buying immediate performance or an asset that can be enhanced and monetized later.

How much is an athlete worth in accounting: rules that change the decision

To understand what an athlete is worth it is necessary to translate a price into an accounting impact. In football the Squad Cost Ratio is the rule that limits team spending relative to revenues and capital gains. The Squad Cost Ratio sets how much a club can spend on wages and amortization relative to income. Capital gain is the difference between sale price and a player’s book value. This mechanism generates immediate profit in the financial statements. A fee capitalized over multiple years turns into annual amortization: a £100m transfer spread over five years creates about £20m of annual amortization. A fee capitalized over multiple years amortizes annually.

The Squad Cost Ratio limits spending relative to revenues.

Ancillary costs make the accounting more complex. Between February 2025 and February 2026 Premier League clubs paid £460.3m to agents. To these costs add wages, bonuses and intermediary fees. In F1 a driver salary like Verstappen’s remains outside the cap. That salary, however, has an indirect effect on brand value. Verstappen has won four world championships and 71 Grands Prix. These results fuel merchandising and sponsorship contracts. For a founder the lesson is simple: evaluate the accounting effect and recurring expenses, not just the acquisition price.

Evaluating the accounting effect and recurring expenses is essential.

Risks, horizon and strategic use of capital

The cases illustrate the intrinsic risk in valuing people as assets. Alexander Isak scored 4 goals and made 1 assist in 22 appearances in his first season at the new club. These numbers show how injuries and adaptation can dilute expected returns in the short term. By contrast, Moisés Caicedo had a complicated start but then became central and collected team awards. This example shows the importance of patience in the value development cycle. Patience is crucial in realizing talent value.

Red Bull instead bet on stability. Verstappen remained a fixed point while the team faces a technical transition with a new power unit program and departures of key figures. The parallel with football is that owning talent can be insurance. If an athlete’s presence sustains the brand, attracts sponsors and preserves know-how, the cost can become a risk premium. The opposite is also true. If the team stays away from the top, even the highest salary will look unsustainable. For someone building a business, this means talent must be placed within a product project capable of leveraging its value in the medium term.

Talent must be integrated into a sustainable product project.

Practical decisions for founders and investors assessing how much an athlete is worth

First define the time horizon are you buying for immediate results or for future Verstappen signed through 2030; Rogers is tied until 2033 in the cited contract. Second, model regulatory and accounting constraints: understanding whether the expense is excluded from the cap or counts against the Squad Cost Ratio changes the operation’s sustainability. Third, quantify ancillary costs: agents, wages and amortization transform a fee into a significant and often recurring annual burden.

Fourth, design exit routes and intermediate metrics: consider the possibility of capital gains for football or sponsorship and merchandising revenues for a sport like F1. Finally, govern risk with patience and financial instruments: diversify the talent portfolio and plan for negative scenarios to reduce the likelihood that a single failure compromises the entire project. Diversifying the talent portfolio reduces systemic risk. The challenge remains open and the real test will be turning large expenditures today into sustainable growth, not into episodic newsworthy transactions.

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